Tin-can opener



' Jim 19,1926. 1,569,906

C. BAEHR TIN CAN OPENER Filed May 25, 1925 Patented Jan. 19, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TIN-CAN OPENER.

Application filed May 25, 1925. Serial No. 32,812.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES BAEmi, citizen of the Confederation of Switzerland, residing at Le Locle, Switzerland,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tin-Can Openers, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a tin can opener of the kind of tools which are adapted to open a tin can by cutting into the sheet metal.

The annexed drawing represents one working form of the object of the invention, to wit, in

Fig. 1 an elevation, in

Fig. 2 a cross-section on line 11-11 of Fig. 1 and in Fig. 3 a section on line III-III of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a View of an auxiliary tool and Fig. 5 illustrates the manner of using the tool.

In the drawing a steel blade 1 shaped like a birds head with a half opened hook bill is provided with a sharp edged upper jaw 4: and a toothed lower jaw 5 and with a sharp edged pricking blade 3 arranged like a cocks comb. This blade is held by an outwardly bent handle 6 which is riveted unto said blade at its contracted fore end. This handle is made of a strip of sheet iron bent so as to present a U-shaped cross section.

In using this tool, the pricking blade 3 serves as a piercer for making the first opening into the sheet metal into which the jaw i may be afterwards introduced in order to continue the cutting by moving the handle forward.

In the case where the sheet metal is very resistant or where the person using the tool is too weak for punching a hole into the sheet an auxiliary tool may be used which forms also part of this invention. This tool comprises a wire 8 with a hook 9 at one end and a grip 10 having a hole into which said wire is inserted while the hook is introduced into the hole 7, provided in thehandle 6 next to the cutter. While the grip takes hold of one edge of the tin can 11 the pricking blade 3 is applied to the opposite edge of the can so as to form a leverage with the handle 6. Thus even the weakest person may be enabled to thrust a hole into the can by means of a blade 3.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A can opener including a blade formed with a V-shaped cutting edge, a handle rigidly secured to the blade and extending away from the same, said handle being provided with an aperture adjacent to the blade, a wire having a hook at one end engaging said aperture, and a gripper mounted on the Wire near its opposite end and adapted to grip the edge of the can.

, 2. In a tin can opener, in combination a cutter-blade formed with a knife-like sharply curved upper jaw and a toothed sharply curved lower jaw and with a two edged pricking blade, a handle made of a metal strip having a U-shaped cross-section and provided with a hole adjacent to the blade, :1. wire provided with a hook at one end adapted to be introduced in the hole of said handle, and a gripper to take hold of a tin cans edge arranged slidably on said wire, all for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES BAEHR. 

